It’s hard not to make every day about the death of someone who I have a record by and I keep on telling myself that I don’t want to write obituaries despite having records that include a lot of artists who are getting old and waving farewell. The recent losses of Don Everly, Dusty Hill, and Franco Battiato made it into the blog as did Charlie Watts and Mary Wilson, Gerry Marsden and B.J. Thomas. But when I look at the list and see who else died just since the beginning of the year, it looks very long. I have records by everyone on this list as either the main artist or sideman playing crucial roles in well-known bands. So today’s blog is a tribute to all these musicians and lesser-known important musical collaborators that we have lost so far this year, and this is just so far and just this year.

Richie Albright – Waylon Jennings drummer

Richie Albright, Waylon Jennings’ Longtime Drummer, Dead at 81

Chris Barber – jazz trombonist 
Tim Bogert – bassist with Vanilla Fudge, Cactus, Beck, Bogert & Appice
Ron Bushy – Iron Butterfly drummer
Louis Clark – ELO orchestral arranger
Chick Corea – jazz keyboardist
Malcolm Cecil – electronic musician, Tonto’s Expanding Head Band and Stevie Wonder collaborator
Count M’Butu – percussionist with Derek Trucks Band
Michael Fonfara – Rhinoceros, The Electric Flag, Lou Reed keyboardist
Nanci Griffith – folk singer
Don Heffington – Emmylou Harris, Lone Justice drummer
John Hinch – Judas Priest drummer
Paul Jackson – Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters bassist
Joey Jordison – Slipknot drummer
Mark Keds – Senseless Things singer
Rick Laird – Mahavishnu Orchestra bassist
Elliot Mazer – engineer/producer, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, The Band, Linda Ronstadt
Les McKeown – Bay City Rollers singer
Phyllis McGuire – The McGuire Sisters lead singer
Clarence McDonald – session keyboardist with Bill Withers, Barbra Streisand, Ella Fitzgerald, James Taylor, and many more
Fritz McIntyre – Simply Red keyboardist
Ellen Mcllwaine – singer/guitarist
Juan Nelson – Ben Harper bassist

Juan Nelson, longtime bassist for Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, has died

Lee Scratch Perry – reggae innovator
Florian Pilkington-Miksa – Curved Air drummer
Lloyd Price – R&B singer
Pat Rizzo – Sly And The Family Stone saxophonist
Ralph Schuckett – Todd Rundgren and Carole King keyboardist
Patrick Sky – folk singer
Phil Spector – producer/songwriter
Michael Stanley – singer-songwriter
Robby Steinhardt – Kansas violinist
Tom Stevens – The Long Ryders bassist
Ike Stubblefield – session organist with Ike & Tina Turner, Four Tops, The Temptations, Martha Reeves, Marvin Gaye, and many more
Sylvain Sylvain – New York Dolls guitarist
Brian Travers – UB40 saxophonist
Dennis Thomas – Kool & The Gang saxophonist
U-Roy – reggae pioneer of Toasting
Hilton Valentine – The Animals guitarist
Rusty Young – Poco guitarist, singer

Music today has been four quite different albums, starting with Steven Wilson’s Cover Version (2014), then Wolf Alice’s latest album Blue Weekend (2021), Black Sabbath’s 13 (2013), and Ben Harper‘s Welcome To The Cruel World (1994).

Music Of The Daze